Is it better to buy a more expensive electric heater?

[loveka]

There are some for 50 quid, and some for 150 quid but is there really any difference?

I am looking at an Adax one which talks about being popular, eco etc.

But a Dimplex is half the price!

Anyone know the difference?

We have to have electric heating, there is no gas and you can't get oil to the house.

A kilowatt is a kilowatt. There is no difference between one 3kw electric heater and another.

Or one 1kw one and another.

Are the the same kilowatt

The more expensive heater will give you a warm glow of satisfaction to think you have lined some crook's pockets.

Dimplex are made by the same company that makes Glen, which are even cheaper.

Have you considered storage heaters? If you are at home all day, go to bed early and have a large hot-water cylinder you might find them suitable. An off-peak kWh costs about half as much as a peak-rate kWh. They are unsuitable for people who are out of the house all day.

I had Dimplex heaters in my first flat. They were fantastic and my electricity bills were very low.

But surely if your fancy electric heater has a thermostat and switches off when at the required temp, then you are using less energy overall and therefore cheaper. E.g. No thermostat 1kw heater for 1hr = 1kwh, with thermostat 1kw heater for 0.5hr = 0.5kwh. Obviously figures made up...

Hmm. The fancy one is lower kW but is Norwegian where they all have these apparently, they mostly have electric heaters in their home. Yes it has a thermostat on it. It is totally silent.

It is in a holiday cottage, so a consideration is people just leaving the heaters on all night. The Adax one turns off automatically at night.

Heaters that are switched off use considerably less energy than those that are switched on. Doesnt improve efficiency!

Yes, in a holiday cottage even the most right on of windfarm lovers and ethical investors won't give a stuff about energy use, so timers would be good.

No obviously not, but timers/thermostat/programmes make it cheaper to run, although you'd have to work out your payback time for greeting the more expensive one in the first place. I would imagine most people don't know the efficiency of their heater....

£15 for a 2kW heater with thermostat and three heat settings. It works just as efficiently as a £300 heater of the same power.

though I prefer oil-filled radiators because they give a more even heat and IMO are safer.

I wouldn't have heaters with built-in timers, because the timer is the part that most often goes wrong.

Electric heating is more popular in Norway, Sweden etc because electricity is much cheaper there than it is here. They also have better insulation. It doesn't necessarily mean that the heater will be better.

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/tile-hill-housing-association-tenants-3420754